The invention relates to a module for contactless communication with a transmitting/receiving station, which module has at least two electrical components which each have at least two contact faces for the electrical connection, an adhesive tape being used in the manufacture of the module.
The invention further relates to a key for deactivating the anti-theft device of a lock, which key has a housing which accommodates a module of the type defined in the opening paragraph.
Such a module of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,742 and is adapted to provide contactless communication with a transmitting/receiving station. The known module has an integrated circuit with two contact faces, two metal strips and a timing transmitting/receiving coil, molded into a synthetic resin housing.
During the fabrication of the module an adhesive tape is used to immobilize these electrical components in one plane. To this end, the electrical components are first positioned onto the adhesive tape and electrically connected by means of bonding wires. Subsequently, the part of the module which is already electrically operable is molded into a synthetic resin in order to provide the mechanical strength of the module. With the known module it has proved to be a disadvantage that the electrical components of the module are all arranged side by side, which is why the module has a comparatively large surface area. As a result of this, the housing of the known key, which includes this known module, is unfortunately comparatively large.
It is an object of the invention to provide a module whose surface area can be reduced by a more effective arrangement of the electrical components, so as to enable it to be also accommodated in, for example, a small housing of a key. In order to achieve this object such a module has characteristic features in accordance with the invention are provided in an apparatus in accordance with the invention, in such a manner that the module can be characterized in the manner defined hereinafter.
A module for contactless communication with a transmitting/receiving station, which module has at least two electrical components which each have at least two contact faces for the electrical connection, and which has a lead frame which is formed by at least two metal strips which are separated from each other both mechanically and electrically and which have a component side, for mounting at least one of the electrical components, and which have an adhesive side and which during the manufacture of the module are held in substantially one plane by means of adhesive tape applied to the adhesive sides of the metal strips, in which the adhesive tape has openings for the contact faces of at least one of the electrical components so as to enable at least one of the electrical components to be mounted on the metal strips from the adhesive side.
Thus, it is achieved that the metal strips can be contacted at both sides through openings in the adhesive tape and that the metal strips can be provided with components on both sides. This has the advantage that the surface area of the module can be reduced substantially, as a result of which the housing of the module is also very small. This small module is then particularly suitable for incorporation in, for example, a car key, key fob or a hotel room key or for attachment to an article.
It is to be noted that providing both sides of a board with components is known since long. Such boards are made of an electrically non-conductive material, as for example epoxy resin, having copper layers on both sides. However, the fabrication of such boards equipped with electrical components on both sides is very expensive because first of all the conductor tracks (metal strips) should be formed from the copper layer, for example by means of an etching process, on both sides of the board. Subsequently, a hole is to be drilled in board for each through-connection and subsequently the edges of the holes must be plated-through in order to ensure the electrical interconnection.
The lead frame provided with components on both sides in accordance with the invention has the advantage that the conductor tracks on the second side are dispensed with because both the electrical components arranged on the component side and those arranged on the adhesive side are in contact with the metal strips which extend essentially in one plane. As a result of this, the module can be fabricated at substantially lower cost and the elimination of the comparatively thick epoxy resin layer and the second layer of conductor tracks enables the overall height of the module to be reduced, which is very advantageous.
The measures as defined in claim 2 have the advantage that the module can be employed for a multitude of additional possible uses requiring contact-bound communication with the module. It is then particularly advantageous that the correct operation of the contactless communication part of the module can also be tested via the module contact faces of the contact-bound communication part of the module. This enables standard test equipment to be used in the fabrication of the module, which has the advantage that both the costs for testing and the time for testing the module can be reduced.
The measures as defined in claim 3 have the advantage that the module contact faces arranged on only two opposed lateral surfaces can be formed substantially simpler and, consequently, cheaper in a punching process. In addition, the advantage is obtained that the module having only two module contact faces on opposed lateral surfaces can be transferred in a storage rail and can be fed to a placement machine at the end of the storage rail. By contrast, modules having module contact faces on three or four lateral surfaces of the module have to be transferred in trays and have to be taken out of the tray individually by a placement machine, which has disadvantages both during the transport of the modules and during mounting of components on the modules.
The measures as defined in claim 4 have the advantage that the surface area of the module including the module contact faces is smaller than in the case of S-shaped module contact faces. U-shaped module contact faces have the additional advantage that the likelihood of the module contact faces being bent during transport and during incorporation of the module is substantially smaller than in the case of S-shaped module contact faces.
The measures of claim 5 have the advantage that the surface area of the module is particularly small and that a simple connection of the integrated circuit to the transmitting/receiving coil is possible.
By means of a punching process the lead frame for the module can be manufactured particularly cost-effectively.
According to the invention, in order to achieve the object mentioned hereinbefore, such a key includes a module as defined in claim 1. This has the advantage that the housing of the key can be comparatively small, which is highly appreciated by users of said key.
The aforementioned aspects as well as further aspects of the invention will be apparent from the example of an embodiment described hereinafter and will be elucidated with the aid of this example.
The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to an embodiment which is given by way of example but to which the invention is not limited.